The Jersey Cattle Society of Kenya was founded in 1936 to "encourage & improve the breeding of Jersey Cattle in Kenya". Despite the ups & downs, still flourishes & remains committed to promoting the Jersey as the ideal dairy animal for Kenya, & in particular the small-scale farmer

Membership:

4 Honorary Life Members

17 Life Members (by invitation, 10 x subscription)

84 Ordinary Members (annual subscription Kshs 400)

10 Corporate Members (annual subscription Kshs 3000)

Publications:

Newsletters - 2 to 3 annually, free to Members (Ed. Waweru Gathecha)

The Jersey in Kenya (1986 JCSK) Kshs 50

A History of the Jersey Dairy Breed & its Society in Kenya (1996 John Goldson) Kshs 200

Breed Information:

Number of Jerseys registered (1998 - 2004) - 1276

Registered Jersey herds - 18

Percentage of registered dairy cattle represented by Jerseys - 13 %

Production average of recorded Jerseys - 3943 kg @ 5.17% fat in 305 days (protein testing not available)

Number unregistered - difficult to estimate as widely distributed in small-holdings

Cross-breeding to Zebu to increase yields, & to other exotic dairy breeds to improve milk quality, is gaining popularity

Genetics:

The Central Artificial Insemination Station - established mid 1950's, initially with live imports from Britain, Jersey Island, New Zealand, Canada & Denmark.

With the advent of deep-frozen semen, contract-mating locally-bred bull dams to semen from New Zealand, Denmark, Canada & more recently USA.

Lord Delamere imported the first Jersey bull to Kenya in 1920, & bred him to the local Zebu cattle with great success. Other imports, chiefly from Jersey Island & Britain, followed & upgrading continued until by the 1950's there were many flourishing Jersey herds in Kenya, over 60 of them officially milk-recorded & registered with the East African Stud Book. Whole milk was sold on a quota basis with surplus marketed as cream.

In 1963 Kenya gained independence, & the majority of the expatriate-owned farms were bought out & distributed to landless Africans. The production base shifted from large scale farms to smallholdings of less than 2 hectares & fewer than 5 animals. All milk was marketed through a monopoly organisation whose activities & pricing policies were part of the Government's increasing control of the dairy industry, & which in the end brought it to it's knees. The number of Jerseys declined as the low-solids breeds proliferated.

In 1992 the industry was liberalised, & many private processing units sprang up, improving the marketing situation to a large extent. However, despite consumer preference for a high-fat milk there seems little prospect of component pricing in the forseeable future.

Present:

The bulk of Kenya's milk is now produced by 800,000 smallholder farmers, with zero-grazing the norm. The Jersey adapts well to this system, but is unfortunately still greatly outnumbered by the larger breeds, which are less suited to it. A handful of Jersey farmers with herds of between 40 & 300 head continue to register & record their animals, import superior semen & breed quality stock for the small-holders & bulls for the Central Artificial Insemination Station.

Field days covering matters of topical interest are organised several times a year. Informative leaflets are distributed at major farming venues such as Agricultural Shows and the Central Artificial Insemination Station Field Days. Members welcome groups from all walks of society - veterinarians, farmers, school children, the disabled - to educational visits to their farms.

We remain upbeat in the knowledge that we have the perfect cow for Kenya, and that eventually reason must prevail.